


Seeing Stars

by blueboxesandtrafficcones



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Camping, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Tumblr: doctorroseprompts, start of forever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-12-04 00:08:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11543301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueboxesandtrafficcones/pseuds/blueboxesandtrafficcones
Summary: TenToo’s been in Pete’s World for 3 days.  Jackie’s running out of toasters as quickly as Rose is patience.





	Seeing Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Characters not mine. Thank you so much for reading!

They’ve been at Pete’s mansion (in Pete’s London in Pete’s World, and isn’t that a kick in the teeth) for three days.  In that short of amount of time, Rose and the Doctor, for he  _is_  the Doctor, have had two full-on shouting matches, eight bickering sessions that almost turned into proper rows, and the Doctor has either ‘upgraded’ or ‘destroyed’ a dozen toasters, but they  _haven’t_  shared a single kiss.

By ten p.m. on day four, Rose is seriously reconsidering every choice she ever made in regards to the daft alien currently pacing the kitchen like a caged tiger.

After another in the endless series of pointed looks from first Jackie and now Pete, Rose surrenders.  Slamming down her mug of tea, she stomps out of the room without a word. 

For the first time in over an hour, the Doctor is frozen in place, a tense, panicked look present as his eyes attempt to burn through the door she left by, never-ending gob hanging open mid-sentence.   He’d known he would lose her one day, but he hadn’t expected it to happen so soon.

The sound of the door slamming back into place combined with the Doctor’s sudden silence shakes the glazed look from Jackie and Pete’s eyes.

Fifteen minutes later, Rose, now dressed in her pajamas, saunters back into the kitchen and out the back door to the yard, a large bundle in her arms.  As one, Jackie and Pete follow their daughter through the doorway, with Jackie doubling back to gently pull the still-stunned Doctor along.

In the yard, Rose is busy using an electric air pump to blow up a large, inflatable pool on the grass, not far from the back door.

“Sweetheart?  What are you doing?  We already have a pool... What are you  _doing_?”  Jackie gently approaches her daughter, worry in her eyes.  

Rose rolls her own, barely glancing up from her work.  “It’s not a pool.”  Jackie’s gaze cuts across to her husband, who merely shrugs, equally bewildered.  They, and the Doctor, stand there, silent sentinels watching as Rose goes about her tasks, afraid of breaking the spell.

Eventually, the pool is inflated and Rose zips two sleeping bags together, placing them inside.  The final step is to stick four poles in the ground, at the edges of the pool, and hang a thin mosquito net between them, effectively incasing the area. With a satisfied smile, Rose steps back to admire her handiwork, before turning to her family.  Seeing the wary, concerned looks in their eyes, she shakes her head with a laugh.

“Right, Doctor, go get changed into jim jams. We’re camping out tonight.”

“We?”  He manages to stutter around the lump in his throat.  “Why?”

With that patented Rose Tyler grin he’s been missing for so long, she steps over to him and takes his hand.  “I know you miss the stars; so do I.  Once the coral is fully grown, we can go anywhere and everywhere. Until then, we can camp in our own back yard and see the stars from here.  What do you say?”

The words are simple and straightforward. There is no nervous look, no sweaty palms.  On the surface, it is exactly as it says on the tin.  But somehow, some way  _thanks, Donna?_  the Doctor knows what she’s really saying, what she’s always been saying.

_“There’s me.”_

_“Better with two.”_

_“Stuck with you, that’s not so bad.”_

_“I made my choice a long time ago.  I’m never gonna leave you.”_

_“I love you.”_

In the end, there’s only one thing he can say in return.  There’s only one response that could match the depth, the emotion, the promise of her words.

“Run.”


End file.
